Mats Wilander insisting on replaying match point in the semi-final of the French Open 1982 against Jose Louis-Clerc because Clerc complained about a call. The chair umpire had already called game, set and match, but Wilander said he couldn't win a match on a contested point.

John McEnroe, surprisingly. McEnroe hit a shot into the stands to concede a point and make up for a couple of bad calls that went against Bjorn Borg at the Masters played in New York (Madison Square Garden in January 1981). This was at the year end championship tournament before a record crowd, so this incident got a lot of attention, especially because it was Borg complaining about a call and McEnroe displaying some nice sportsmanship. McEnroe did that soon after Borg actually approached the umpire, argued a call and then received point penalties. There were about 19,000 in attendance at what was the 4th biggest tournament of the year.

One situation that Lahyani will gladly take is a player overruling the linesman's call and giving the point to his rival. It happened to him on a tough call Patrick Rafter when the Aussie conceded the point to his rival and was later given the fair play award the same year in Dusseldorf.

Stefan Edberg won the ATP Sportsmanship Award 5 times from the late '80s to the mid-90s. In '96, they re-named it the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award.
In '95, at the Legg Mason final in D.C., it was a terribly hot and humid day, Agassi vs. Edberg. Near the end of the final set, during a changeover, Agassi went straight to the air-conditioned bathroom, which was against the rules---he needed permission from the chair umpire. Edberg sat in his chair and politely complained, since Agassi was breaking the rules and getting an air-conditioned edge. He then returned, refreshed, and beat Edberg 7-5. Nice goin, Andre....

Mats Wilander insisting on replaying match point in the semi-final of the French Open 1982 against Jose Louis-Clerc because Clerc complained about a call. The chair umpire had already called game, set and match, but Wilander said he couldn't win a match on a contested point.

Click to expand...

nice of wilander, considering the context of the time(umpires just refused to check any marks on clay back then), but with todays umpires that would have been called a winner for clerc, not a replay situation (if they checked the mark & it was indeed good)

another instance of great sportsmanship, was Connors vs Newcombe '75 AO final. Connors hit a service winner & ace that were contested. He then intentionally hit a df on the next ball & got a great reception from the crowd. maybe it wasn't such a great idea since he got broken in that game & eventually lost that set to go down 2 sets to 1(& lost the match in 4)

I see a lot of good sportsmanship(even by mac) in old matches, mainly because umpires were so incompetent back then. I'm not talking about bad calls necessarily, that stuff has always happened, but umpires just not knowing the rules(overruling, but replaying a point when it was a clean winner, overruling but calling it a winner when it was a replay situation) not to mention how often they got the score wrong & players had to correct them.

Stefan Edberg won the ATP Sportsmanship Award 5 times from the late '80s to the mid-90s. In '96, they re-named it the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award.
In '95, at the Legg Mason final in D.C., it was a terribly hot and humid day, Agassi vs. Edberg. Near the end of the final set, during a changeover, Agassi went straight to the air-conditioned bathroom, which was against the rules---he needed permission from the chair umpire. Edberg sat in his chair and politely complained, since Agassi was breaking the rules and getting an air-conditioned edge. He then returned, refreshed, and beat Edberg 7-5. Nice goin, Andre....

Click to expand...

I had never heard about that. One wonders now what Andre was doing on that break.

Another minor act of sportsmanship - Stefan Edberg at the '88 Olympics, playing doubles for the Gold medal with Jarryd against Casal / Sanchez. A ball of Casal / Sanchez (can't remember which) flew long and the chair umpire called game point for Edberg/Jarryd. Edberg approached the chair and told her that the ball had grazed his hair, so they lost the point, and she corrected the call and thanked him. Of course, it wasn't a crucial point as it was the first set which Edberg / Jarryd were winning easily at that time (Casal / Sanchez would go on to beat them in four sets winning the Gold medal, with Edberg / Jarryd taking home bronze).

One that I do remember was Agassi (He's called everything in the book here, except, OPEN right?) delayed the finals of the '94 Ericson so Sampras could play, then promply lossing the match.

Click to expand...

Brad Gilbert was furious with Agassi for this, saying that he should have refused Sampras's and the tournament director's request to delay the final. Most players I'm sure would have given the same response as Agassi though. He understood that the tv networks and paying fans would have been annoyed if the final had been cancelled, and he didn't want the win the title courtesy of a walkover.

Despite losing the final, Agassi said he had no regrets about his actions though. He definately made the right decision.

In his Costa do Sauipe quarter-final against Calleri in 2005, Nadal had a match point in the 2nd set, but overruled a line call in Calleri's favour. He lost that 2nd set but went on to the win the 3rd set, en-route to winning his 2nd ATP title.

Courier gave Chesnokov an ace down set point in the 4th set of their FO encounter in '89.

And in those days umpires almost never got out of the chair to check any mark, so he wasn't delaying an inevitable correction by doing this. Chesnokov raised his hand in appreciation to Courier & crowd cheered.

Courier lost 26, 36, 76, 62, 75(and there was a questionable no call in a rally on match point on Courier side of the court)

I had never heard about that. One wonders now what Andre was doing on that break.

Another minor act of sportsmanship - Stefan Edberg at the '88 Olympics, playing doubles for the Gold medal with Jarryd against Casal / Sanchez. A ball of Casal / Sanchez (can't remember which) flew long and the chair umpire called game point for Edberg/Jarryd. Edberg approached the chair and told her that the ball had grazed his hair, so they lost the point, and she corrected the call and thanked him. Of course, it wasn't a crucial point as it was the first set which Edberg / Jarryd were winning easily at that time (Casal / Sanchez would go on to beat them in four sets winning the Gold medal, with Edberg / Jarryd taking home bronze).

Click to expand...

Seguso and Flach defeated Sánchez and Casal in the 1988 Olympics Final in a highly contested match (6–3, 6–4, 6–7(5), 6–7(1), 9–7). Sánchez and Casal formed a great double. Sadly, they are forgotten nowadays.

Seguso and Flach defeated Sánchez and Casal in the 1988 Olympics Final in a highly contested match (6–3, 6–4, 6–7(5), 6–7(1), 9–7). Sánchez and Casal formed a great double. Sadly, they are forgotten nowadays.

Click to expand...

Edberg may be a great sport, but if they had hit it through Flach's long hair, he surely would have done the same! ;-)

I had never heard about that. One wonders now what Andre was doing on that break.

Click to expand...

I believe in Agassi's book, he said he went back and just threw up, but admits just lying in the locker room, the air conditioning revived him. Of course, he admitted he had been hoping Edberg would collapse in the heat, but instead Edberg had actually broken hm twice in the fifth set to stage a comeback....

As seems pretty typical of Andre...he doesn't really recognize the hypocrisy and seems to justify it as...I had no choice...I was really sick!

Seguso and Flach defeated Sánchez and Casal in the 1988 Olympics Final in a highly contested match (6–3, 6–4, 6–7(5), 6–7(1), 9–7). Sánchez and Casal formed a great double. Sadly, they are forgotten nowadays.

Click to expand...

Sorry, I mistakenly thought it was the match for the gold medal, when in fact, it was the semi-final. Sánchez and Casal took the silver after losing to Flach and Seguso. Edberg and Järryd took home bronze.

I agree that Sánchez and Casal were a wonderful doubles pair to watch play, among many from that era.

Something that most people probably don't remember about Hana was that she gave a lot of calls to her opponents. She gave Chris a call that set up match point for Chris at the Ford Cup in 1985 and gave Chris another call at the Virginia Slims Championships in the spring of 1986 that gave Chris double break point.

I also remember her giving Martina several calls (though not the one in her Oakland win in 1984) and to Steffi at Amelia Island on a game point. Right or wrong, Hana had her own sense of fairness.

I had never heard about that. One wonders now what Andre was doing on that break

Click to expand...

With the crowd yelling for him to get back into the game, Agassi won the first game of the third set on his service, then broke Edberg to take a 2-0 lead. But he was feeling more ill as the match wore on and by the time he reached the ninth game — he was serving with a 5-3 lead — he got desperate. So he repeatedly retreated to the corner of the court, where he discreetly threw up into a potted plant three times.

Immediately after Edberg won the final point of that game to even the set at 5-5, Agassi shocked the fans once again when — in front of Edberg, the officials and his girlfriend, Brooke Shields — he simply dropped his racket and beat a hasty retreat down the tunnel.

Confused, Edberg queried the chair umpire, who speculated that Agassi had an urgent need for a bathroom break. He was half right. With his flowerpot now on the other side of the court, Agassi decided to retreat to the players' locker room.

In Becker run to his first Wimbledon, he met Anders Jarryd in the semi-finals. In the first or second set (far before the match was decided) Becker called Jarryd over during his (Becker's) service game and asked which side he preferred the ball on the deuce court since he was unable to hit a service winner against Jarryd on that side. Becker went on to win in 4 sets and eventually win the championship.

This is what the commentators said had happened but it seemed unbeliavable to me. I think what actually happenned was Becker giving Jarryd a free return to make up for a previous bad call.

In Becker run to his first Wimbledon, he met Anders Jarryd in the semi-finals. In the first or second set (far before the match was decided) Becker called Jarryd over during his (Becker's) service game and asked which side he preferred the ball on the deuce court since he was unable to hit a service winner against Jarryd on that side. Becker went on to win in 4 sets and eventually win the championship.

This is what the commentators said had happened but it seemed unbeliavable to me. I think what actually happenned was Becker giving Jarryd a free return to make up for a previous bad call.

Click to expand...

I've never heard or read this - interesting story. I've got this match on DVD and have watched it a few times, and I do not recall seeing this or hearing the commentators mention it. When I get time I'm going to watch again to see if I can catch this.

If it's true, it's particularly surprising if it came in the first two sets (before the rain delay) because Jarryd was clearly outplaying Becker up to that point.

And a silly one to add to this thread from yesterday - Novak Djokovic giving Tipsarevic a racquet dampener in the middle of the first set tiebreak when Tipsarevic broke a string and lost his.

Something that most people probably don't remember about Hana was that she gave a lot of calls to her opponents. She gave Chris a call that set up match point for Chris at the Ford Cup in 1985 and gave Chris another call at the Virginia Slims Championships in the spring of 1986 that gave Chris double break point.

I also remember her giving Martina several calls (though not the one in her Oakland win in 1984) and to Steffi at Amelia Island on a game point. Right or wrong, Hana had her own sense of fairness.

Click to expand...

Loved the graceful and athletic way Hana Mandlikova played, reminiscent of Evonne Goologong.

Something that most people probably don't remember about Hana was that she gave a lot of calls to her opponents. She gave Chris a call that set up match point for Chris at the Ford Cup in 1985 and gave Chris another call at the Virginia Slims Championships in the spring of 1986 that gave Chris double break point.

I also remember her giving Martina several calls (though not the one in her Oakland win in 1984) and to Steffi at Amelia Island on a game point. Right or wrong, Hana had her own sense of fairness.

A player's courtesy to the people he can get away with being nasty to (i.e., the non-millionaires who stare at lines so that the players can enjoy the limelight) always makes a strong impression on me.

There's a famous story from the 30's of Don Budge, in a big win, giving his favored opponent a free point in response to a bad call. Afterward, Gottfried Von Cramm, one of the sport's all-time great gentlemen, suggested to him that his behavior was incorrect for having embarrassed the linesman. I read in another account that Budge regarded the conversation as an important lesson.

Whether or not one agrees with Von Cramm, the essence of sportsmanship is stopping to consider the other person, and by that standard this was a higher level of it.

A bee stung Kathy Rinaldi during her Center Court match with Shriver. Who came to her rescue? Pam did!

Shriver killed the bee and removed the stinger from Kathy's arm. The chair jokingly threatened to give Pam a penalty point for killing the bee.

I like to needle Evert once in a while. But I remember the 86 French SF where Hana had cracked a bone in her pinky in a fall while beating Graf. Early on Hana tripped over a line sliding out wide to her backhand and instinctively reached down with her hand to avoid a face plant into the clay. It was immediately apparent that Hana had hurt herself as she began crying and holding her hand. Chris immediately came around the net to comfort her. The rest of the match was painful for Hana in more ways than one. Every forehand and every forehand volley she hit was painful.

I also remember Chris beating Martina in Houston in 1987 in perhaps their best match ever (the 1987 Wimbledon might've been better). Martina couldn't hold her tears and Chris went over to her chair to comfort Martina.

A bee stung Kathy Rinaldi during her Center Court match with Shriver. Who came to her rescue? Pam did!

Shriver killed the bee and removed the stinger from Kathy's arm. The chair jokingly threatened to give Pam a penalty point for killing the bee.

I like to needle Evert once in a while. But I remember the 86 French SF where Hana had cracked a bone in her pinky in a fall while beating Graf. Early on Hana tripped over a line sliding out wide to her backhand and instinctively reached down with her hand to avoid a face plant into the clay. It was immediately apparent that Hana had hurt herself as she began crying and holding her hand. Chris immediately came around the net to comfort her. The rest of the match was painful for Hana in more ways than one. Every forehand and every forehand volley she hit was painful.

I also remember Chris beating Martina in Houston in 1987 in perhaps their best match ever (the 1987 Wimbledon might've been better). Martina couldn't hold her tears and Chris went over to her chair to comfort Martina.

Click to expand...

Evert's usual policy was to just play the calls as they came, maybe pausing just a little longer to give time to the linesman or Umpire to overrule a gift. She seemed more studious in matches with Evonne. In several matches she made it abundantly clear when she thought Evonne was shafted, once using jesture to call a ball in for Evonne before the refs could screw it up.

Graf made it equally clear to the empire she did not want any more gifts in a 1989 match vs Evert.

Shriver mentioned late in her career that only twice in her entire career has her opponent sent a personalized congratulatory note after a victory. Evert was responsible for one of them. She could afford to be magnanimous considering how long it took Pam to get victory #1

By the way has anyone ever seen Goolagong question a bad call or even give a dirty look ?